Solid Waste Manager

NOTICE REGARDING HOLIDAYS: “When in doubt, set it out!” Thanksgiving and Christmas are the only days of the year when curbside trash and recycling are not picked up as scheduled. For the week following those two holidays, collection is delayed by one day and Sanitation Workers work through Saturday to catch up. The following Monday, service resumes as usual.

If your brown City of Knoxville recycling cart was not emptied on your regular pickup day, please call 311. Note that Waste Connections has until the end of your pickup day to empty your City of Knoxville recycling cart so please wait until the following day to call 311 and report the miss. In order to send a driver back for a missed pickup, misses must be reported during the two-day window after your pickup day.

We are expanding this program! If you do not already have a curbside recycling cart please call 311 or Sign Up Here. ​For more information about this program please visit Curbside Recycling.

NO GLASS ALLOWED IN RECYCLE CARTS

As of January 1st 2017 glass is no longer accepted in curbside single-stream carts.

This change is due to the fact that when glass is co-mingled with other recyclables in the same cart it easily breaks into tiny pieces that contaminate the other recyclables, thus creating a very low quality product for which there is no buyer. This type of end product cannot be recycled. In order to ensure that we maintain a viable curbside recycling program glass had to be removed from single-stream.

Glass is recyclable only when brought to a Drop-Off Center and separated by color.

NO PLASTIC BAGS OR OTHER PLASTIC FILMS ALLOWED IN RECYCLING CARTS (OR AT RECYCLING DROP-OFF CENTERS)Plastic bags and plastic film are not recyclable in single-stream or when brought to a recycling drop-off center. These items break down the machines used to process your recycling. Please place your recyclables loose in the carts and at the drop-off centers to ensure efficient recycling. To recycle your plastic bags please bring them back to a grocery or hardware store that accepts them for recycling. We also highly encourage the use of reusable bags.

RECYCLING DROP-OFF CENTERS

The City has 5 drop-off locations that are open 24-7. These centers are staffed 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. by a Goodwill attendant. We also encourage you to take advantage of Knox County drop-off centers as well as the one on UT campus.